The 241-P – career of the P9 at the SNCF – The last train (COPEF) – Transfert to Guîtres – A long sleep…
In 1976, the AAATV Bordeaux and the Train Touristique de Guîtres-Marcenais joined forces to build a hangar for the 241-P-9. They decided to celebrate this shelter with festivities comparable to those of 1974. This time, however, the presence of a great figure in railway steam engineering was requested: André Chapelon, a world-renowned steam engineer.
Invited by Raymond Dauphin, co-founding President of the AAATV, Chapelon also received the title of Honorary President of the AAATV. The machine is even re-pressurized, and carefully runs a few dozen meters on the small section of track 3 rail. In the hangar a sign was put up, the text of which still sells the railway as a glorious tool for pacification between men… a perfectly contemporary discourse of steam traction and its men.
All this will not be enough, despite the efforts of the association and the local notables, to truly delight André Chapelon, who, throughout the afternoon, will keep the expression that we see in the photo… For he does not forget that his best prototypes were promptly scrapped by the SNCF, and that the 241-P-9, a great line machine, is relegated to a small country station, permanently. At least that’s what we think at the time… No doubt he also knows that his time is also counted… André Chapelon will die two years later.
The P9 then became a famous monument in the north Gironde. The opening of its fence was always awaited by the passengers of the TTGM, who usually got a head start in anticipation of this particular visit. In fact, the machine had not left the railway atmosphere, although at that time it was still limited to the operation of a drayage train.
Above: the P9 under its shed, before the construction of the TTGM workshop, while the exit of the station is still in its original state.
In 1980 TTGM acquired its first steam engine, a 020 Meuse. So that the P9 quickly returned to its natural ambience, to the delight of its visitors.
The icing on the cake is that the coal left in the tender of the 241-P-9 is sufficient to power the 020 throughout its first summer season.
In the 80s, a memorable steam festival took place, and the SNCF even joined in – happy times! – by bringing a Z2 train to Guîtres, an absolutely exceptional initiative and which was the last one due to the progressive degradation of the line towards Coutras.
Very unusual view of the 241-P-9 from a Z2 train at Guîtres! Photo (DR) Alain Cassagnau
In 1985, the memorable organization of a special (and daring!) Bordeaux-Guîtres A/R steam train allowed the P9 to rub shoulders with the 141-TD-740.
histo 241 P 9 CFTLP 1985 019 1 History 5 A long sleep in Guîtres
241-P-9 and 141-TD-740 at Guîtres during the special Bordeaux-Guîtres train in 1985.
In 1986 the SNCF wanted to get rid of the P9, ready to sell it to a scrap dealer. François Schneider, then President of the AAATV, bought it back at the scrap price, for the sum of… 12.000 Francs (which corresponded to one year of gross SMIC, or the price of one car). Thereafter the machine knew very few particular episodes.
During all these years the construction of the hangar by the team of the Tourist Train of Guîtres will have played a determining role for the preservation of the machine. But not only. A former mechanic from the Eastern region, Daniel Lécheneau, (opposite, left, with Néris Gendreau) who drove a 141-P, a member of the AAATV, who regularly came on vacation to the region, made sure to regularly turn the crank of the Lavalette greaser. To those who claimed that it was no longer of any use, he retorted, true to the old school: « A machine, it gets greasy! ». Sometimes adding: « Or you can scrap it! ».
The fact is, today, that thanks to his regular intervention – which he was the only one to do – the very good condition of the connecting rod heads and other parts of the mechanism testifies that one should never stop maintaining these machines! Daniel, a remarkable man of good sense, has thus left the proof that loving his job is a guarantee of quality in the work…
The collaboration between the AAATV-Bordeaux and TTGM (many members being common) also made it possible to repaint the machine several times. The last painting in Guîtres was done in 2003 by the Scouts de France of Margny / Compiègne, during a workcamp organized by the signatory of these lines. At that time, the future of the machine left nothing but a long parking lot, and the black areas of the P9 were repainted with tar black. At that time, no one suspected that five years later, 241-P-9 would have an unhoped-for opportunity…
Alain Cassagnau
The 241-P – career of the P9 at the SNCF – The last train (COPEF) – Transfert to Guîtres – A long sleep…